I say my goodbyes, touching each of their foreheads with my own. Cray and I touch foreheads for the longest. We’ve been through a lot.
“You be careful out there,” he says to me.
“I’ll try.”
“I hope you find what you’re looking for.”
“Me too.”
“You’re a hero, Jaime,” he says without warning. “A hero for even trying. And so much braver than you will ever realize. Foolish too, of course, but mainly incredibly brave.”
I don’t know what to say to that. I look past the ship at the sea. It swells and surges under the gloom of the sky. So much water. The deepest I have ever seen, with no land in sight. Am I really about to set sail on that? My stomach cramps at the thought. “I don’t feel particularly brave.”
“None of the bravest people do.”
AT FIRST I DIDN’T WANT TO GO ON THE SHIP BECAUSE OF what happened to the other boat when it sank. I was splashing in the water because I couldn’t swim and I thought I might drown. Lileas saved me then. Now she is dead because of the nasty deamhan did it. It still makes me so angry when I see him which is all the day now because he is tied to the pole in the middle. I try not to let the angry get too hot because it’s what I shouldn’t do.
I decided to be brave and go on the ship to show the queen it was all right. She was scared to go on it. She needs me to look after her and I am good at helping people. “It’s fun being on the water,” I tell her, and now she likes it.
She is a real queen. The nasty deamhan calls her the Mad Queen, but I think she is nice so I call her the Nice Queen. Or I call her Nathara, which is her other name. Sometimes she says things that are funny and I laugh.
We are not going very fast. Jaime says it is hard because it is only me and him to make the ship go and he is not good at it. The nasty deamhan tells us what to do and which way to go. He shouts a lot of things and bosses us. I don’t like it and I don’t want to do it, but Jaime says we have to because he’s the one who knows. I’m the best at doing the sails because I’m good at climbing so that’s my most important job and I do it.
It was sad to say goodbye to the bull people because they are my friends now and I miss them so much. I hope I will see them again soon, especially Crayton. He gave me his spear because he likes me and I gave him a kiss because he liked it.
It is always cold on the ship. I don’t mind being cold. We put on lots of clothes to make us warmer but it is still cold. I cannot see a single thing except for only so much sea all around us. The sea does not want us to be on it. That is what I think. The waves are big ones and sometimes they come over the ship and get us wet. Me and the Queen Nathara like it when it does that. She screams when she gets wet and is happy.
When I am looking at the sea it makes me remember when I was on the wall being a good Hawk and I did it for all the day. Because it is nearly nighttime the sea is a dark color like purple. It is my favorite color when it is dark.
The shadow things are on the ship as well. That is what Jaime says. They are in the necklace on the Queen Nathara. I don’t know about that. As long as they stay in there and do not come out and get me. I do not want them to get me. They are very bad things.
“How you doing, Aggie?” It is Jaime who says that, who is standing at the big wheel that steers the ship which way to go.
“I’m okay,” I say. “Do you n-need me to hold your — hand again?”
“I’m all right, thanks. If I look straight ahead, it makes it easier.”
He means what happened earlier. It was when he started shaking and then he let go of the wheel and he was kneeling on the floor with his head down and his breathing was all coming out fast and a lot. I said to him, “What is it, Jaime?” but he was shaking his head and his eyes were wide and his breaths were huh huh huh huh. It was the same as when it happened before so I did the helping like Lileas did. I took his hand and put it on my chest where my heart is and said to him to do the breathing slow with me. Soon later his breaths were more normal again and I helped him to stand up. It happened because we can’t see Scotia anymore. Jaime told me that. He doesn’t like the water when it is so deep. That’s okay. It’s okay not to like things. It doesn’t mean you’re afraid. When he feels it happening, he calls to me and I hold his hand again because that is what he says helps. It’s because we are friends.
Something runs up my leg and I scream.
“What is it?” says Jaime.
“A shadow thing! It’s got me. It’s on my leg.” Now it is going around my tummy and at my neck. It’s going to kill me. It’s going to tear me all apart.
“Hello, little fella,” says Jaime.
Jaime is looking at my neck where the shadow thing is. He puts his hand up to take it off. When he moves his hand I see it.
Milkwort!
It is not a shadow thing it is Milkwort my friend and the vole. He has come back to me! I take him from Jaime and I kiss him and I scratch him behind his ears.
“You came with us!” I say. “How — how did you g-get here? You followed us all the way. I knew you wouldn’t leave me.” I do not say it in my head because I know he will not hear me and that will make me sad and now I am only happy he is here again.
“Don’t you run away again,” I say to him next but I am not really telling him off.
Jaime is smiling. Milkwort goes down my arm and into my pocket. We are together again now. We will always be together.
“Dødhai! Dødhai! Look — there! A dødhai comes!”
It is Knútr who is shouting this. He is looking at the other side of the boat. Jaime looks over and I look too.
“What is it?” I ask to him, but then I know it. It is a deathfin. Its spike comes out of the water and it is coming to us. What do we do? If I was on the wall I would know. Deathfins means you have to hit the Fourth chime once at the bottom and then the people in the boats will know and we can use the arrows to help them. But there are no chimes on the ship and we don’t have any arrows. Jaime is breathing fast again.
“How do we make the ship go faster?” he shouts to Knútr.
“Untie me and I do it,” says Knútr.
“No,” says Jaime. “Just tell me what to do. Tell me what to do.”
“You cannot outrun it. You do not have the skill. The dødhai it crashes ship and it sinks.”
“So what do we do?” says Jaime in a really loud scream.
“I tell you: untie me,” says Knútr.
The Nice Queen Nathara goes to Knútr and is wobbly when she walks because of the moving.
“I told you not to shout! You’ll wake the baby,” she says to him.
“Luk mudr ykar,” he says, which I don’t know what it means. The Nice Queen Nathara giggles at that.
The deathfin is getting closer. Jaime turns to me.
“Agatha — can you stop it?” he asks. “Like you did with the wildwolves. Can you make it go away?”
I don’t want to say it but I have to tell him.
“I can’t d-do it anymore,” I say. “It doesn’t — work now.”
“What do you mean?” he says.
“Something b-broke,” I say.
“Just try, Aggie.”
“I can’t!”
“You have to try!”
There is no point to try. I go to the side of the ship where the deathfin is coming, but I can’t do it and I said I can’t do it and I can’t.
“I can’t do it,” I say again and I shout it because I am sad and angry.
“Okay, take the wheel. Keep it straight.”
That is what I can do. Jaime jumps down to the middle where Knútr is and pulls out his sword and points it at Knútr and says, “I’m not untying you, so if that thing sinks this ship, you’re going down with it. Tell me what to do. Please! Tell me!”
Knútr shrugs and looks away. Jaime leaves him and runs to the side of the ship. The deathfin is right next to our ship now and is going all around it. It is so big and gray and its tail makes it go fast. The Queen N
athara is watching it too and she is smiling but I don’t know why. I wish I could talk to it to make it go away. I want to do it so bad. I hold on to the wheel tighter and keep it so straight. My fingers are hard and the wind makes them colder.
There is a bump on the side that is a really big one which is the deathfin. It makes me nearly let go but I don’t.
Jaime has gone to below and comes back and he has the spear that Crayton gave me.
“I need to use this,” Jaime says to me.
“Yes,” I say, “you can use it.” Even though it is a special one.
Jaime leans over the side and tries to get the deathfin with the spear. “I can do this,” he says to himself. The deathfin is too far away and he can’t reach it. He stops trying and shouts to me, “Agatha, when I say, pull the wheel to the right, all the way, as fast as you can.”
“Okay, J-Jaime!” I shout back.
“Nathara — hold on to something. Agatha — now!”
I do it. It is hard to do but I am quick and I pull the wheel all the way so quick and it makes the ship tip and I think it will fall over but it doesn’t.
“Straighten it up! And go again — now!”
I know what Jaime is trying to do and it is a clever plan. When the ship is tipping he is closer to the deathfin and he can get it with the spear I think.
“And straighten up again.”
I know what I have to do now, and every time he shouts, “Now!” I do it. We work together because we are a team and I am helping.
He jabs it with the spear once and then twice and he gets it. It’s because it is a good spear. The deathfin goes under and I don’t see it again. It is gone.
“You did it!” I say, and I straighten the wheel again. The wheel is stiff and my hands are hurting, but that’s okay.
“That was close,” says Jaime, who is still looking into the sea. The spear has red on its end.
It is all quiet except for the waves which are hitting on the boat with slapping.
Then there is a big bump and I scream because it is a surprise one. It is so hard that Jaime nearly falls over. The deathfin has come back. It is on the other side. No, there is more than one. The fins come up and there is seven, eight, nine deathfins! They are all around.
“Dam ort!” Jaime swears.
“It’s not safe it’s not safe stay in your room it’s not safe” is what the Queen Nathara is saying. She is not smiling anymore.
Jaime runs to the other side of the ship with the spear and when he leans over the side one of the deathfins jumps out of the water so high I don’t know how and it is the worst thing I ever saw. It is so big and the sea comes out of its mouth which is a huge open one and it has a hundred teeth that are all so sharp. It is going up to Jaime because it wants to eat him.
“Aaaaaah!” Jaime shouts, and he hits it with the spear in its mouth and it goes all the way in nearly to Jaime’s hand and the deathfin closes its mouth and it breaks the spear which Crayton gave me and it smashes it. The deathfin falls into the water and I hope that it is gone forever but I don’t know. Jaime moves back from the side. He only has a small piece of the spear in his hand now. I am sad the spear is broken. More of the deathfins are jumping out of the water on both sides and hitting the ship with their tails and I can hear it crack like it is all going to break.
“Keep holding on, Aggie,” shouts Jaime. “I’m going to try something.” He drops the broken part of the spear and runs up to where I am. The ship is going all ways even though I am holding as hard as I can so it’s not my fault. Jaime takes one of the lanterns that is next to me and carries it to Knútr and puts its handle in Knútr’s mouth.
“You’re going to need this,” he says.
Then Jaime goes to the Queen Nathara who is at the front of the ship and holding on and Jaime says, “We need the sgàilean. Now. Or the whole ship is going to be destroyed. Can you make them stop the deathfins?”
There is another big bang on the side and it is making my teeth hurt and my head. It is hard to hear what the queen says because of the bangs, but I can see when she opens the black stone on the necklace. What happens next is worse even than when the deathfin jumped up with all the teeth.
It goes darker all around and black shapes are coming out of the necklace. There are so many of them and they come onto the ship and make a horrible noise that is loud. They are the shadow things, I know it. Sometimes I can see them and sometimes I can’t. They keep going so I am not sure where they are or if they are there or not. I want to get away from them, but I have to hold the wheel straight so I don’t. They cannot hurt me. That’s what Jaime says. They only hurt people from other places like Knútr, which is why Jaime gave him the lantern. I am glad there is a lantern near me too so they don’t come near me just in case.
There is a swoosh and the shadow things go all together up the pole in the middle of the ship, the one where Knútr isn’t. The ship does a jolt and then it starts going fast and much faster.
“Jaime!” I shout, because the wheel is hard to hold now. Jaime comes and takes it from me. “What’s happening?” I ask him.
“The sgàilean — they’re pushing the sails somehow,” he says.
“W-why?” I have to say it loud because of the noise of the shadow things. The noise is in my head like it has got all wasps in it. I don’t like it.
“I don’t know. I was hoping they’d attack the deathfins, but this is even better!”
He looks behind us and I look too and the deathfins are far away now. They cannot get us now we are so fast.
“If the sgàilean keep this up, we’ll reach Norveg in no time.”
I do not like the shadow things. I wish they would go back inside the necklace.
“Looks like you won’t need to lower the sails after all,” Jaime says. “We’ll make use of the speed and sail through the night. Why don’t you go below and bring up some blankets?”
“Okay,” I say. I can do that no problems.
Before I go, I take Milkwort out of my pocket and leave him by the lantern. “You stay here,” I say to him. He’ll like it by the warm. I do not want the shadow things to get him like they got the stag we ate.
I go down the steps to the middle part. There is something not right. I look up. The whoosh is a fast one and the shadow things are on me. On my face and in my clothes and they want to hurt me and I know it.
“No!” Jaime shouts, and then someone pushes me over and I fall and I am on my tummy and the shadow things go off me and are gone. When I open my eyes I am next to Knútr the nasty deamhan who is too close to me. I lift my hands because they hurt and there is a cut on my arm.
“Agatha, are you okay?”
I sit up. I am by the pole in the middle. Jaime is there. The Nice Queen Nathara comes over too. The shadow things are above me but they can’t get me now that I am by the lantern.
“What — happened?” I ask. My knee is hurting too.
“I told you not to touch them. They only want to play. They don’t, they don’t,” says the Queen Nathara, which is one of the things she says that isn’t a funny one.
“The sgàilean,” says Jaime, and he is looking at me with a frown face. “When you stepped out of the light. They all came at once.”
“But — but you said they c-couldn’t hurt me. You said that, Jaime.”
There is laughing and it is Knútr. “This is so good,” he says to me.
“What is good?” I say to him. It is not good.
“Stay out of this,” Jaime says.
“This is the truth,” Knútr says to me. “You think you are from Skye, but it is not true. The killing shadows try to get you, which means only one thing. You are a foreigner.” His eyes are all wide when he says it and he licks his lips. “Just like me.”
THE SGÀILEAN ARE BACK ON THE SAILS, PUSHING US forward. It’s a risk, keeping them out after what they tried to do to Agatha, but she’s safe as long as she stays under the lantern light. I was struggling to sail the ship on my own, so we need to m
ake the most of the sgàilean while we can; the sun will rise soon, and then I’ll ask Nathara to call them back to the amulet. The speed eases the tension in my chest, which started when we lost sight of Scotia and was made a hundred times worse by our encounter with the deathfins. The sooner we reach land the better.
I keep wondering what made the sgàilean attack Agatha. Was Knútr right when he said she isn’t from our clan at all? How could that even be possible?
A faint glow of light appears in the distance. Norveg. There must be fires in the harbor to help guide ships in during the night. Even with a spyglass, it’s too dark to make out anything specific.
Knútr calls out, “Give me skyggert so I see.”
“You mean this?” I ask, holding up the spyglass.
“Of course this,” he says.
I step down to the middle deck and hold the spyglass to Knútr’s eye. “This is good,” he says. “We sail good. Go a little west. When the sun comes you see two islands to east. Past them you see Stórangr port. This is where we go.”
“And then you’ll take us to the king?”
“Then I take you to king.”
I return to the top deck and alter the ship’s course in line with Knútr’s directions. The reality of what we are about to undertake starts to sink in. I grip the wheel tighter. The salty air is good for my lungs. I let the sgàilean propel us in for a little while longer and then wake up Nathara.
“We’re nearly there. It’s time to call the sgàilean back in,” I say.
“Does Mummy say so? If not, she will be cross.”
“Yes, Mummy definitely says so.”
She stands up. Her long hair has tangled around her body during sleep, giving her the appearance of a feral creature. She opens up the onyx amulet and calls out the same words as before.
“Sgàilean thigibh a-steach! An-dràsta! Sgàilean thigibh a-steach!”
Nothing happens. She tries again, and this time, when she calls, the ship thrusts forward. The sgàilean remain on the sails.
“What are they doing? Why aren’t they coming down?”
“They don’t want to play with me,” she says.
The Good Hawk Page 20